


Girls' Day Out

by hannelore



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen, Trans Female Character, Trans Woman Neville Longbottom - Freeform, trans positivity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:02:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23417917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hannelore/pseuds/hannelore
Summary: Hermione and Luna offer to take Nell out shopping, but she realizes that perhaps she has a style that's all her own.
Comments: 12
Kudos: 35





	Girls' Day Out

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Trans Day of Visibility! Thanks to pauraque for the beta. ♥

Nell unrolled the parchment that she had received by owl the other day.

_Madam Malkin's, 1 o'clock_

She wasn't quite sure why Luna and Hermione had chosen this particular shop. Glancing in the window, there was a variety of dress robes and hats with long feathers.

"Nell!" She turned to see Hermione and Luna walking toward her. Nell's heart skipped a beat, as it always did when they called her by name. It sounded so pleasant and familiar, like her worn knitted cardigan.

"I thought we were shopping for, y'know, everyday clothes," Nell said, pointing at the robes. "Isn't this a bit fancy?"

"Madam Malkin's daughter just opened a charity shop downstairs about a month ago," Hermione said, taking Nell's hand. "We've been there before—"

"We were there yesterday," Luna said, giving Nell a big hug and a small kiss on the cheek. "Well, Hermione goes there _nearly_ daily."

"I do not!" Hermione's cheeks coloured and Nell had to laugh a little.

"I've seen your wardrobe," Nell added. "You've got a jumper for every day of the week."

"Every day of the month," Luna corrected.

"I happen to like them," Hermione said as she pulled Nell toward the door. "I like them without so many holes, even."

Luna shrugged in response. "Holes give animals something to peek out of them when they're hiding in your jumper."

The doorbell jangled as they entered and Nell recognized Madam Malkin as if she had just been in here buying her first set of dress robes. Luna squeezed her hand in a reassuring way.

"Good afternoon girls," Madam Malkin said, then leveling her gaze at Hermione. "Miss Granger, Eloise hasn't gotten anything new in since yesterday."

Luna mouthed _told you so_ to Nell, which made her giggle.

"Quite all right!" Hermione bristled, sticking out her tongue at Luna as they headed down the stairs.

Nell had seen charity shops before; she'd quite wanted to wander around them but when Luna and Hermione said they'd take her on her first clothing trip she was very relieved and grateful.

Downstairs was a bit more haphazard, with long racks of skirts and trousers along with bins of mismatched socks.

"This is one of my favorite things here," Luna said, pulling Nell toward the socks. "I like to just close my eyes, stick my hand in and grab any two."

"There are some lovely stockings here," Hermione said, gesturing to a much more neatly sorted row of tights and socks with little lace frills.

"Anything I can help you with today?" Madam Malkin's daughter, Eloise, looked similar to her mother but a much more dressed-down version. She was folding some shirts and setting them back on a glass countertop.

"Just browsing around," Hermione said cheerfully. Nell noticed that unlike most charity shops she'd seen, there were no signs that said _men's trousers_ or _ladies' dresses_. Everything was just _there._ It was reassuring and felt good to her.

"We're not shopping for uniforms today," Luna said as she closed her eyes and fished around for a sock deep in the bin. She opened one eye to peek at Nell. "Just everyday things, right?"

"Exactly," Nell said. She was eyeing a cardigan that was much like hers, but it had pretty violet flowers along the cuffs. "Should I try this one?"

"Oh, that's cute!" Hermione said. "But let me find you a nice blouse to wear under it."

"She's going to get something boring," Luna said with a groan as she grabbed sock number two and eyed them triumphantly. "Here, your first pair."

Nell took the mismatched socks, one bright yellow with orange stars and another striped with gold and green.

"They're perfect."

"Quick, before Hermione gets back," Luna said, tugging on Nell's sleeve. "There's some wonderful shirts here that have lots of embroidery. I've gotten many of my favourites here."

Hermione was already holding up a few blouses against the cardigan with a critical eye. Underneath the glass countertop, Nell could see a shelf of jewelry. Eloise smiled at her as she continued to fold the shirts.

A pair of clip-on earrings the color of cobalt blue caught Nell's attention. She remembered leafing through a magazine, dreaming of ideas of her own wardrobe when she had read something about blue being a "lively contrast" to brown eyes. 

"Pardon me, could I look at those?" Nell said.

Eloise brough them out and placed them in Nell's hand. They clipped on easily to her ears and she looked at herself in the small display mirror. Her smile was wider than it had ever been before.

"You have good taste," Eloise said.

"Thanks!" Nell said, unable to take her eyes off herself. Her hair had started to curl again, a little, and she loved the way the earrings looked on herself.

"Your friends have good taste too," Eloise said, nodding over to Hermione and Luna, who had now started to bicker over the blouses. "But they do have quite different ideas as far as style goes, hmm?"

"They're both wonderful," Nell said. "And how they dress is very much _them._ I'm just not quite sure which style is _me_ yet."

"That's what friends are for," Eloise replied. "You've already got a head start on what catches your eye. I have the same problem with _my_ friends, too. You just have to be a little firm with them sometimes." She gave Nell a wink and then called out to Luna and Hermione. "Girls, did you forget who you're shopping for?"

Hermione gave an embarrassed smile and Luna looked sheepish as well.

"Um. Sorry, Nell. I suppose we got a little carried away."

" _We_ know what we like," Luna admitted. "But we'd like to know what you like."

"Something to go with these earrings?" Nell said, pointing to her ears.

"Of course!" Hermione said with a gasp. "Oh, those are lovely!"

"Beautiful!" Luna exclaimed. "I think you should get a different pair for every day of the week."

"Every day of the month," corrected Hermione.

"Let's look around then," Nell said cheerfully as she set the mismatched socks on the counter. She smiled at Eloise. "I'll be taking these too."


End file.
